


To Unravel Fear

by Kaya4114



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 03:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18335723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaya4114/pseuds/Kaya4114
Summary: Ryan moved through the oily black with a timid yet fluid step.  His determination was the only thing pushing him forward, Shane at his heels as they delved deeper into the catacomb.   He just knew that there would be something here.  He could feel it in his bones as he continued on, the echo of their boots against the stone tiles and the heavy sound of uneven breath in the air.Ryan was terrified.---------------------A drabble that may or may not turn into a multi chapter fic





	To Unravel Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, it's me again. Yes I am still working on my other multi chapter fics. This was just something that was born from wanting to spread good vibes. It might become a multi chapter too eventually. But for now, enjoy.

It’s interesting how much can be communicated with only a simple touch…  Skin on skin contact that says everything and nothing all at once.  

The long glowing shaft of their flashlights seemed almost as nothing against the blackness of their surroundings.  Like a light sabre that appeared to battle against the darkness of the room, it did nothing to cut through the wall of shadow.  It was thick; Not simply from the absence of light, but heavy as if it were a giant blanket that seemed to cover them.  As if it were trying to tuck in the wandering and wayward spirits to lay them to bed.  A stark contrast to the daylight that cast upon the two ghost hunters only hours prior to their arrival at the site.

Ryan moved through the oily black with a timid yet fluid step.  His determination was the only thing pushing him forward, Shane at his heels as they delved deeper into the catacomb.   He just knew that there would be something here.  He could feel it in his bones as he continued on, the echo of their boots against the stone tiles and the heavy sound of uneven breath in the air.

Ryan was terrified.  

The deafening silence of their surroundings pressed upon him as they both continued forward.  With nothing but two cameras, a couple of flashlights and a bottle of holy water to protect him, Ryan was seriously beginning to have second thoughts about this location.

Suddenly, a sharp rake cut through the silence, forcing the hairs along Ryan’s neck to stand straight on end.  It sounded as if nails were being dragged along the uneven concrete walls of the narrow passageway.

“Shane,” The shorter man gulped, “D..did you hear anything?”

The taller one looked down at his frightened counterpart with quiet amusement, “Oh, you mean the sound of a demon running its claws along the wall towards us?  Yeah, I heard it. Better get that holy water ready.”

Ryan froze suddenly, fear gripping him into paralysis and eyes going wide as Shane’s words took root in the man’s mind.

“Th.. That’s not funny, dude.  There’s  n… There isn’t supposed to be demons here!”

Shane’s laugh echoed, breaking the deep quiet of the corridor, “Chill, Ryan.  I was joking.  It was probably just a raccoon or something.”

The younger frightened man responded only by way of moving forward once more, refusing to address his lanky co-host’s skepticism with any more words.  He strained to listen through the all-encompassing stillness, the rush of his blood ringing in his ears louder than the heavy pounding of his heart and sharpness of his unsteady breath.  If there was a demon making its way towards them, he wanted to be ready to.. to..  Ryan didn’t even know.  

His mind wouldn’t let him think that far.

He had to be brave.  He had to press on.  The show depended on it.  Oh, if only Shane could understand the pure, unadulterated quake that continued to threaten to shake him to his very core.  The fear that reached deep down inside of him.  It consumed him.  That rich, palpable terror that chilled him past bone, right down to his very soul.  

Ryan smiled in spite of himself, the thoughts somewhat bitter yet amused.  His taller best friend was a shining example of the idiom “Ignorance is bliss”.  A skeptic couldn’t possibly begin to realize what it was like to feel as if there could be something here…  Something lurking in the thick black, watching them. Waiting…  But yet neither of them could know, truly, if there was.

And so it was left to sit and stew.  To brew in the back of the raven-haired man’s mind about everything he could not possibly ever realize or know, and if that wasn’t the whole reason for the fear.  

It was the unknown.  

The unsureness of it all was what made it so incredibly hard.  So incredibly unbearable that Ryan found it harder and harder to take each step. To continue forward as if he _knew_.  As if he was as Shane; To be _so_ sure that there indeed was nothing.  Nothing but the blackness of an empty room, and the musky smell of forever and those that had passed within it.  

Shane’s voice pierced the soundlessness once more, his voice laced with uneasy concern, “Hey.. Ryan.  Are you ok?”

Ryan continued to walk forward, unable to verbally respond, the fear within him pinning his tongue.  As the quiet dragged like the scrape of the nails mere moments earlier, the pace with which the shorter ghost hunter moved began to hasten, panic starting to set in.

“Ryan..?”  Shane continued, worry now lacing his voice in a much tighter vice than the easier concern within his prior question, “..talk to me, man.  Are you alright?”

The pace at which the two of them walked was quickly turning into a jog as they both continued down the damp halls of the catacomb.  Ryan was clearly panicking and his legs were driving him forward, fueled only by the fear that was gripping him.

His jog eventually broke into a full on sprint as the deep-set terror clenched around the edges of Ryan’s mind.  It was all Shane could do to keep up as his best friend continued to bolt forward until suddenly, the blackness seemed to swallow them both;  Their flashlights shorting out dead.

As the thick blanket of shadow wrapped its self around them, Shane heard the abrupt stop of footsteps and the scream of Ryan’s terror echoing along the thick stone walls in a wail before snapping silent again.

“RYAN!”  Shane called into the blindness that surrounded them, fear of his own now very present in his tone.   The chocolate haired man shook his flashlight, willing the batteries to cooperate, before tapping it against the wall a couple times.   In luck or mercy of which Shane could not be sure which, the light snapped on and off a couple times before the steady stream of luminescence filled the now smaller room the two men were currently standing in.   Shane’s eyes fell on Ryan as his brows knit together in a frown.

Ryan was still as a statue.   His eyes were snapped shut tight, his fists balled at his sides, knuckles white, back rigid.  His breathing came in sharp, uneven gaps and sobs, too quick and too short, tears streaming down his face.  The poor man was rendered catatonic.

The terror was eating him; The sudden dark from their flashlights dying had pushed him over the edge.  Ryan knew that something was there, fucking with them.  Fucking with _him_.  Whatever had dragged its claws along the wall was coming for him and he knew there was no escape now.  The depth of the unknown was going to manifest its self into _something,_ and that something was going to come out and silence them like it had all the other poor lost souls.  The souls that were said to wander the caverns that Shane and he had gone to explore.

Ryan could feel the room get colder as it became harder and harder to breathe.  The black that surrounded him was pressing upon his chest and lungs, and what’s worse!  The room was beginning to spin.

The room was spinning and the ground was coming up to meet him as the shadows of the catacomb clawed at his neck, trying to suffocate him.  He wanted to run.  He wanted to scream, but the fear had paralyzed him, holding him in place as he waited for the end to come.  For the demon to make its way towards him and put an end to his miserable existence.

He could feel the room get smaller and smaller as the air became stifling and he couldn’t breathe!   Suddenly, he felt _that something_ coming towards him slowly and he knew that this was the end.  He needed to run, he needed to get away because if he didn’t he was gonna die but he couldn’t move and he couldn’t breathe and the room was still spinning even though he was on the ground and OH GOD IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM AND HE COULDN’T MOVE TO GET AWA—

Shane.

His arms around Ryan, he pulled him tight to his chest.   Ryan could feel the man’s arms tighten around him.  He heard him speak, his voice sounding almost far away, “Its ok Ryan.. can you just… Breathe for me.  In.. one two… out.. one two… in.. one two… out… good… that’s good Ryan… Just breathe.”

All Ryan could hear was a ringing in his ears and the sound of Shane’s heart beating as his head laid against the taller man’s chest.  Ryan idly noticed his flannel shirt was soft from too many washes, and his chest was warm in contrast to the air around the two of them.  His jacket was not fully closed, so he felt the scratch of the zipper where it was undone half way up.  Shane smelled of a mixture of sweat and laundry detergent as well as aftershave and something else that Ryan couldn’t identify.  

As the moment wore on, the taller man further tightened his grip on Ryan, murmuring quietly into his hair.  Then Ryan realized he could breathe again.   He realized that the blackness had receded.  It was just the two of them.  Alone in a room.  He was safe.  Shane was going to make sure he was safe.

Belatedly, Ryan rose his own arms and pulled closer into Shane.  It was the first time Shane had hugged him. He didn’t care what any of this might mean.  He didn’t want to think about after.  All he wanted right now was to feel the warmth of the man whose arms were around him, keeping him from harm.

He was safe.

He was safe.

“Are you ok, Ryan?”

His voice was quiet.  Calm.  His usual mocking tone was completely absent. Ryan steadied his breath before finally replying, “..Yeah..  Th.. Thanks.”

The room now remained as simply just a room.  Whatever was there before, seemed to no longer be present and for that, Ryan was more than grateful.  The calm of the moment wore on as Ryan continued to cling to Shane, breathing slowly, just as his companion had instructed.  A few moments passed and then came another question,

“Can you stand?”

Ryan closed his eyes taking a final moment to memorize the feeling of Shane’s arms around him before answering with a quiet, “Yes.”

Then, the two of them proceeded to do so, Shane’s hands sliding to Ryan’s shoulders yet not removing them.  A fact for with Ryan was grateful.   A moment passed between them as Ryan met Shane’s eyes.   He expected to see humour.  Disappointment.  Annoyance.  Anything but what he found.  Within Shane’s eyes was a deep concern.  One that spoke of understanding, as if he too felt that same fear that gripped Ryan’s very core.  There was also something else.   Something between them had changed.  Ryan couldn’t quite put his finger on what, but something had passed between them, and he knew that once they left here, things would never be the same.

That thought brought on a new fear.  One that Ryan was not ready to face yet.  But he knew that the moment couldn’t last forever, so like the mantra he always mentally chanted, the words echoed in his mind _‘I am not afraid’_ ,  and he pressed forward.

“Can we… Are we finished here, dude?”  Ryan found the strength to ask.  

“I think we got enough footage for today,”  Was the reply he received and with that, the two of them made their way out of the catacombs and into the next phase of whatever it was that they were.

Ryan would figure out what that was later.


End file.
